The Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development has launched a new initiative aimed at closing longstanding gaps in Uganda’s labour market data, warning that weak reporting systems and fragmented records continue to undermine effective employment planning and policy-making.
The initiative, dubbed the Labour, Employment, Productivity and Reporting Programme (LEAP), seeks to establish a national system for collecting, managing and reporting labour market data in real time to support evidence-based decision-making.
Speaking at a consultative workshop in Entebbe, Permanent Secretary Aggrey David Kibenge said Uganda continues to face major challenges in generating and utilizing reliable labour market information despite growing demand for data to guide job creation, wage reforms, social protection and productivity enhancement.
“Uganda’s labour market governance system faces persistent gaps in the generation, quality and utilisation of administrative data required for national planning, compliance monitoring and international reporting,” Kibenge said in remarks delivered by Commissioner for Labour, Industrial Relations and Productivity Alex Asiimwe.
The ministry revealed that while national surveys provide broad employment statistics, critical administrative data from labour inspections, employment records, enterprise productivity assessments and social security contributions remain fragmented and inconsistently reported.
According to the latest available statistics, Uganda’s unemployment rate stands at 12.3 percent, labour underutilisation at 42 percent and informality at 88 percent, highlighting the scale of challenges facing the country’s labour market.
Kibenge noted that although the Employment Act requires employers to maintain employment registers and submit returns to labour officers, compliance remains low due to weak reporting systems and limited digital infrastructure.
As a result, government agencies struggle to access timely enterprise-level information needed to track employment trends, productivity levels, working conditions and labour market transitions.
“The LEAP Programme has been developed as the national mechanism to strengthen administrative data generation, harmonise reporting standards and ensure that labour market information is timely, accurate and actionable,” Kibenge said.
The programme will establish an integrated labour market data ecosystem aligned with national statistical requirements and international labour standards to improve planning, monitoring and policy formulation.
Government officials say the initiative is expected to strengthen labour market governance and provide policymakers with reliable data needed to address unemployment, improve productivity and support economic growth.
The four-day consultative workshop has brought together representatives from employers’ and workers’ organisations, government ministries and agencies, local governments and development partners to review the draft programme before its implementation.